The present invention relates to a wheel assembly for a trash/recycling cart, and more particularly to a wheel assembly that is easily installed and removed in the field.
Rollable carts for containing trash, recyclables, lawn and garden clippings, and other materials are well known. These carts may be transported or “wheeled” relatively easily even when the cart is filled. The wheeled carts facilitate periodic transportation of the cart to the curb or other area for pick-up/emptying, as well as transportation of the cart to the material to be picked up.
It is desirable that the wheels may be easily installed on and removed from the carts in the field. For example, the carts typically are initially shipped for deployment without the wheels installed, enabling the carts to be stacked. During deployment, the carts are unstacked, and the wheels are installed. The carts may also be unstacked, moved to another area and restacked to facilitate higher moving densities. During use, occasionally the wheels will break or become wholly or partially detached from the cart. It is desirable that the wheels be readily removable and installable so that damaged wheels can be readily replaced in the field.
There are a variety of wheel assemblies enabling the wheels to be installed on and removed from the carts. One particularly successful wheel assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,107 issued Feb. 10, 1998 to Parker et al. This wheel assembly includes a wheel, a wheel retainer, and a cover. The wheel retainer is resiliently flexible and includes a pair of keepers biased into a circumferential groove in the axle. When the keepers are in the axle groove, the keepers retain the wheel on the axle. The keepers may be forced out of the axle groove using a special tool to release the wheel assembly from the axle, enabling the wheel assembly to be removed and replaced. Unfortunately, servicing the wheel assembly requires the special tool. If the tool is lost or misplaced, removing the wheel assembly is difficult, resulting in wasted crew time while a replacement tool is obtained.
Other cart wheel assemblies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,637,835 issued Oct. 28, 2003 to Morris and U.S. Pat. No. 7,377,597 issued May 27, 2008 to Morris. Unfortunately, both of these wheel assemblies are relatively complex sleeves, are difficult to assemble, and do not retain the wheel assembly on the axle with the desired consistency. The wheel assemblies require tools for removal. The wheel assemblies sometimes result in undesired noise because the wheel sometimes “chirps” as it rotates on the axle. Finally, the metal spring clip disclosed in the '597 patent can corrode, which can result in spring failure.
As a result of the success of the above-noted wheel assemblies, literally millions of the axles disclosed in those patents have been manufactured over the years and remain in active carts. In order to be “backward compatible” for servicing wheel assemblies in the field, it is desirable that future wheel assembly designs be compatible with that axle.